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Christopher Sacca (born May 12, 1975) is an American venture investor, company advisor, entrepreneur, and lawyer. He is the proprietor of Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund in the United States that has invested in seed and early-stage technology companies such as
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
,
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...
,
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, Twilio, and
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
, investments that resulted in his placement as No. 2 on '' Forbes''' Midas List: Top Tech Investors for 2017. Sacca held several positions at Google Inc., where he led the alternative access and wireless divisions and worked on
mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
. Between 2015 and 2020, he appeared as a "Guest Shark" on ABC's ''Shark Tank''. In early 2017, Sacca announced that he was retiring from venture investing. In 2021, Sacca announced that he was back into venture investing with a focus on climate issues.


Early life and education

Chris Sacca was born on May 12, 1975, and raised in Lockport, a suburb of Buffalo. His father was an attorney, while his mother was a professor at SUNY Buffalo State. Sacca is of Irish and
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
descent, with family originating from Calabria, Italy. Sacca's parents exposed him to a variety of interests, and he recalls being pulled out of school to attend
science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...
s and book-readings. His brother is actor Brian Sacca. Sacca attended The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
in Washington, D.C. He spent semesters abroad at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in
Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...
,
Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
,
University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...
, in Cork, Ireland, and the Universidad Complutense in
Madrid, Spain Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. He graduated in 1997 ''cum laude'' with a B.S. in foreign service and was an Edmund Evans Memorial Scholar as well as a Weeks Family Foundation Scholar. He was a member of The Tax Lawyer law review and was honored as the school's Philip A. Ryan and Ralph J. Gilbert Memorial Scholar. He recalls that he managed to graduate without attending class, obtaining class notes by throwing an annual keg party where entry required classmates to dump their notes in a bin."Chris Sacca on Being Different and Making Billions"
''The Tim Ferriss Show'', February 19, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
He graduated from
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
with a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
''cum laude'' in law and technology in 2000.


Career


Stocks and Fenwick & West

Sacca used his
student loans A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest ...
to start a company during law school, and when the venture proved unsuccessful he used the remaining funds to start
trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. Traders generally negotiate throu ...
on the
stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...
. By leveraging trades for significant amounts (discovering a flaw in the software of online trading brokers in 1998) he managed to turn $10–20 thousand into $12 million by 2000. Eventually, when the market crashed, Sacca found himself in
debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...
with a four million dollar negative balance. He negotiated to have it reduced to $2.125 million and had repaid it by February 2005. In 2000 Sacca began his career as an associate at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley where he handled venture capital, mergers, acquisitions, and licensing transactions for technology clients including
Macromedia Macromedia, Inc. was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Adobe Flash, Flash and Adobe Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its riv ...
,
VeriSign Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the , , and generic top-level d ...
, and
Kleiner Perkins Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneur ...
. Laid off in September 2001, after approximately 13 months, he spent the next several months attending networking events and ‘surviving’ in Silicon Valley by drafting contracts and doing voice over work as a freelancer. Creating the consulting firm The Salinger Group for networking purposes, he landed at Speedera Networks in May 2002.


Google positions

In November 2003 Sacca was hired at
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
as Corporate Counsel, where he reported to General Counsel David Drummond. As part of the legal and business development team, his first mandate was to find large amounts of data space, by negotiating and signing agreements around the world. Sacca served as Head of Special Initiatives at Google Inc. leading the alternative access and wireless divisions. Among his projects were the 700 MHz and TV white spaces spectrum initiatives, Google's data center in Oregon, and the free citywide WiFi network in
Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...
. Sacca also led many of Google's business development and
mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
transactions and was on the founding team of the company's New Business Development organization. He was among the first Google employees given the Founders’ Award, the company's highest honor.


Angel investments

While at Google, Sacca began investing in companies as an
angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...
. He served as a professional advisor to companies for a variety of matters, including strategy, optimizing user experience, raising money, and selling a company. His first angel investment was in
Photobucket Photobucket is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community based in Denver, Colorado, United States. Photobucket once hosted more than 10 billion images from 100 million registered members. Li ...
, which was then sold to
News Corp The second and current incarnation of News Corporation, doing business as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed on ...
in 2007. His second investment was in
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. Entrepreneur Evan Williams had started a microblogging service called Twttr in 2006, and asked Sacca if he wanted to invest. Sacca invested $25,000 and began using the service, registering in July 2006 as the 102nd user on the site. He related to ''Forbes'' that "I wasted months trying to get others to believe it could be a real business, not just a toy," before deciding "to just buy it all myself." Sacca took part in a $5 million financing round for Twitter in late 2007 and ultimately created four separate funds to surreptitiously buy as many Twitter shares as possible. Sacca left Google in December 2007 after he had fully vested and sought additional opportunities to work with early-stage companies. Sacca has stated that a turning point in his angel investing was in 2007, when he moved to the town of Truckee in the mountains close to
Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...
. Entrepreneurs including
Travis Kalanick Travis Cordell Kalanick (; born August 6, 1976) is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was th ...
and Sacca would spend hours discussing ideas at the residence, and Sacca eventually bought the house next door to host various visiting entrepreneurs. When money began to run low Sacca raised a new fund with investors such as Brad Feld,
Marissa Mayer Marissa Ann Mayer (; born May 30, 1975) is an American business executive and investor who served as President (corporate title), president and chief executive officer of Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017, when it was sold to Verizon. She was a long-tim ...
,
Eric Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and former computer engineer who was the chief executive officer of Google from 2001 to 2011 and the company's chairman, executive chairman from 2011 to 2015. He also was the ...
, and
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...
's Digital Growth Fund.


Lowercase Capital

Sacca founded Lowercase Capital LLC in Truckee California, in 2010 when he closed his Lowercase Ventures Fund I, an $8.4 million seed fund, in 2010, with investments in Uber, Docker,
Optimizely Optimizely is an American company that provides digital experience platform software as a service. Optimizely provides A/B testing and multivariate testing tools, website personalization, and feature toggle capabilities, as well as web content ...
, StyleSeat, Instagram, and Twitter. Lowercase also has some non-tech-related companies in its portfolio, including Blue Bottle Coffee Company and a high-end restaurant in Truckee. Without the corporate backup funding available to many venture capitalists, Sacca became very involved in his portfolio companies on a personal level. He attended meetings at Twitter and Uber, and he negotiated the rights for Uber.com from
Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...
when the company changed its name from Uber Taxi. Although not on Twitter's payroll, he "served as a crucial adviser during its formative years and worked closely with its early employees." Through 2009 he invested in companies such as
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
, Twilio and Lookout. Sacca opened a new $1 billion investment fund in the summer of 2010, and later that year the fund began to buy large blocks of shares from Twitter stockholders, deepening Sacca's position in the company. By February 2011 Sacca's funds had purchased about $400 million worth of Twitter shares, giving it "a stake of roughly 9 percent." When Twitter went public in late 2013, Sacca's affiliated funds owned almost 18% of the company, raising the value of Sacca's investment in the company to around $1 billion. Sacca brought in Matt Mazzeo to Lowercase Capital as a partner in 2013, with Mazzeo heading a new early-stage fund, Lowercase Stampede, out of Los Angeles. Mazzeo had worked at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), an entertainment and sports agency. Sacca had a 4% stake in Uber by March 2015, and Lowercase was "sitting on" investments in Stripe, Lookout and
WordPress WordPress (WP, or WordPress.org) is a web content management system. It was originally created as a tool to publish blogs but has evolved to support publishing other web content, including more traditional websites, electronic mailing list, ma ...
parent
Automattic Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company most notable for WordPress.com and its contributions to the WordPress system. The company was founded in 2005. Automattic's brands and products include WordPress.com, Akismet, Gra ...
. ''Forbes'' estimated that Sacca was personally worth $1.2 billion. By that time the value of his first Twitter fund, Lowercase Industry, had reached 1,500% of its original value, and his Twitter deals overall had "returned $5 billion to investors." Also in 2015, ''Forbes'' said that Sacca had built "the best seed portfolio in history" with funds such as his Lowercase Ventures Fund I, which had investments in companies such as Twitter, Instagram, and Uber. ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...
'' had also labeled Lowercase as one of the most successful venture capital funds in history. Lowercase Capital had an investment portfolio of around 80 startups and a variety of more mature companies by 2017, including Medium and Uber. Sacca was fully divested from Twitter by 2017. That April, Sacca announced that he was retiring from venture investing and along with it his role on ''Shark Tank'', saying he was "two years late" on his plan to retire at 40 years old. He said his firm would continue to support its portfolio companies, but would not take on any new investments or raise more money from investors.


Lowercarbon Capital

Sacca launched a
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
-related fund in 2020 called Lowercarbon Capital which was initially funded by Sacca and his wife. The firm announced its first outside funding round of $800 million in August 2021. The firm had invested in ~50 companies as of August 2021, many of which were startups focused on removing carbon dioxide from the air.


''Shark Tank'' and media

Sacca regularly speaks about venture capital and investing in media. He has been characterized as an expert by ''
Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
'',
Fortune magazine ''Fortune'' (stylized in all caps) is an American global business magazine headquartered in New York City. It is published by Fortune Media Group Holdings, a global business media company. The publication was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. T ...
, CNBC, the BBC, CNN, Fox and NPR. Also, Sacca's interview during the initial ''Startup'' podcast inspired the pilot episode of the ABC television version of ''Start Up'' starring
Zach Braff Zachary Israel Braff (born April 6, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He portrayed J.D. (Scrubs), John Michael "J.D." Dorian on the NBC/American Broadcasting Company, ABC television series ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs'' (2001–2010), for ...
with Sacca playing himself. He played himself in the "Overton Window" episode of Billions. He has also appeared on other television shows. In 2015 he first appeared as a "Guest Shark" in episode 4 of season 7 of the ABC reality television show ''
Shark Tank ''Shark Tank'' is an American business Reality television#Investments, reality television series that premiered on August 9, 2009, on American Broadcasting Company, ABC.Hibberd, James (May 10, 2012)Dancing,' 'Bachelor,' and a bigger 'Shark Tank ...
'', which dramatizes seed-stage investment negotiations. Subsequently, appearing in three other season 7 episodes, Sacca invested in HatchBaby, Bee Free Honee, Rent Like a Champion, and Brightwheel. Sacca continued to appear as a guest shark in five episodes of season 8. Among others, he invested in a business that opens lemonade stands, and on February 17, 2017 in episode 168, Sacca along with guest Lori Greiner invested $600,000 for 5% of ToyMail, a plush toy which connects to a messaging app. Sacca has a role in the ABC sitcom
Alex, Inc. ''Alex, Inc.'' is an American sitcom created by Matt Tarses that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from March 28 to May 16, 2018. Based on Gimlet Media, Gimlet Media, Inc.'s ''StartUp (podcast), StartUp'', the series stars Zach Braff, ...
, where he plays himself and reenacts his interactions with Alex Blumberg.


Recognition

Since 2011 he has been listed on '' Forbes''' Midas List: Top Tech Investors. In 2015, Sacca was featured on the cover of ''Forbes'' magazine listed as No. 3 on the Midas list. and in 2017, he was listed at No. 2. ''
BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
'' named him one of the top 10 angel investors, and '' Vanity Fair'' has named Sacca to its "New Establishment" list.


Personal life

Sacca's wife Crystal English Sacca is also a partner at Lowercase. She is a former advertising creative and has authored books such as ''The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert: Take a Whiff of That'' and ''The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Whiskey Know-It-All: Know Your Booze Before you Choose.'' The couple live in
Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a resort town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is Teton County's only incorporated municipality and county seat, and it is the largest incorporated town ...
and Big Sky, Montana, with their three children. He is known in business circles for his Western-style shirts, which resulted in Sacca being named to '' GQ's'' "Worst Dressed List." According to ''Forbes,'' he "bought his first owboy shirt impulsively, at the Reno airport en route to a speech, and the reaction prompted him to buy out half the store on his return." At the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
, Sacca delivered a 2011 commencement address that
NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
ranked on its list of “Best Commencement Speeches, Ever." Sacca completed an Ironman in 2008, and in 2009 rode his bicycle from
Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...
to
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
over 40 days for charity. In 2017 the ''New York Times'' reported that a woman had accused Sacca of touching her face at a
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
gathering in 2009 without consent, making her uncomfortable. Sacca denied the allegation, but did apologize for contributing to a business atmosphere that was "inhospitable" for women in technology and venture capital.


Philanthropy

Sacca is involved with charity: water, a nonprofit seeking to bring clean drinking water to every person on the planet. He is also involved with The Tony Hawk Foundation. Sacca has served as an Associate Fellow of the
Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The school is a provider of management education. Business and management classes started at Oxford in 1965 when the Centre of Management Studies, ...
at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
and as an MIT Enterprise Forum Global Trustee. He is also a Henry Crown Fellow of the
Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. Its stated miss ...
. In 2019, the Saccas each signed
The Giving Pledge The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority (i.e. more than 50%) of their wealth to philanthropic causes. , the pledge has had 236 signatories from 28 ...
, which calls upon signatories to donate the majority of their net worth to philanthropic causes.


Political involvement

Sacca worked for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign as a Telecommunications, Media, and Technology advisor and campaign surrogate, as well as a field office volunteer. Following Obama's victory, Sacca served as co-chair of finance for the Presidential Inaugural Committee.Proprietor, Lowercase Capital
. Lowercase Capital (retrieved December 19, 2016).
During Obama's successful 2012 reelection campaign, Sacca served as a member of the campaign's National Finance Committee member and as co-chair of the "Tech for Obama" group. During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Sacca was a vocal supporter of Democratic Nominee
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
, appearing in various fundraisers around the country. He spoke against Trump, and in response to President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations, Sacca donated $150,000 in matching donations to
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...
. Sacca donated to the Lincoln Project, a Republican-led super PAC opposing the re-election of Donald Trump and Republican Senators who supported him.


References


External links

*
Tim Ferriss interview with Chris Sacca

Studio 1.0 host Emily Chang sits down with Chris Sacca, founder and chairman of Lowercase Capital, June 12, 2015 (Source: Bloomberg)

Chris Sacca Forbes page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacca, Chris Living people 1975 births People from Lockport, New York University at Buffalo alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni American billionaires American venture capitalists Google employees Henry Crown Fellows 21st-century American philanthropists Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni American financial company founders Angel investors